Main break on Montello St. leaves residents without water

An early morning water main break on Montello St. has left more than a dozen homes without water and forced officials to close the heavily used road from Lawrence to Packard Streets.

By Morgan True

The Enterprise, Brockton, MA

By Morgan True

Posted Sep. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 2, 2013 at 2:14 AM

By Morgan True

Posted Sep. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 2, 2013 at 2:14 AM

BROCKTON

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An early morning water main break on Montello St. has left more than a dozen homes without water and forced officials to close the heavily-used road from Lawrence to Packard Streets.

The break occurred just after 8 a.m. on Monday and flooded the area, leaving several feet of water on the ground at one point in the morning, said Brockton Police Lt. Robert Sergio. City workers were still on scene that evening, the flooding has subsided by late-morning leaving only a few puddles on the street.

As of 5 p.m., Larry Rowley, the city's utility superinendent, said his workers had replaced an eight-foot section of the water line where it tore open. He said they had begun to reconnect the line, but residents would be without water for several more hours.

The water had to be turned on slowly, Rowley said; otherwise an air pocket in the water line could rupture it again. He said the road would be closed for an even longer period, while workers clean up the site and remove their equipment.

When the line ruptured, the pressure sent sand and water shooting up through a section of the concrete road leaving a hole in the street roughly the size of an SUV.

Rowley said it was important to get the water line shut off because they started to lose pressure throughout the city's water system. Once the water that spilled was pumped out of the site, Rowley said workers were able excavate and repair the main.

The city will still have to replace a section of road where the concrete was destroyed by water and sand shooting up from beneath it.

Jemimah Phille and her mother were leaving their Montello Street home just after 10 a.m. Monday. Phille said they woke up to no water, and expressed frustration that the city had not called or emailed to let them know about the service disruption.

"We figured it had something to do with the work going on outside," Phille said, but she hadn't realized a water main was ruptured.

The two were going to get breakfast, because they had no water to cook. Phille said they would probably just go to Dunkin' Donuts, because not much else would be open on Labor Day.

Rowley said there was a similar main break a few blocks away two years before. Part of the problem, he said, is the city's aging infrastructure. The water lines were built sometime in the 1920s, he explained.